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Best Buy and Target to start selling used games

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Corporate News, Culture, PlayStation 3, THQ, Wii, Xbox 360,

Best Buy and Target

Taking a controversial page from Gamestop’s book, Best Buy and Target both are in the beginning stages of implementing a trade-in program for used videos games in exchange for store credit. Best Buy has revealed that it will start offering a trade-in program this week in 600 locations, and will begin selling used games “soon”.

Target’s Electronic Trade-In department is currently open in North Carolina, and will increase to 850 stores by December 2010. Unlike Gamestop where you can only trade in video games and their accessories to buy more video games and the like; Target comprises a much larger trade-in spectrum, allowing customers to trade in cell phones, iPods, and video games to receive store credit. This store credit can net you the many different items sold in Target, and is not just limited to digital devices.

This all comes much to the dismay of video game publishers, namely THQ CEO Cory Ledesma who recently discussed how used games “cheat” the video game industry. Despite this, it seems that Best Buy and Target intend to get away with some heavy duty cheating this holiday season.

Look for the Best Buy on Columbia Heights 3100 14th St NW to start accepting trade-ins by December.

Read More | Target

Gallery: Best Buy and Target to start selling used games


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EB Games Canada: Wii Pre-Orders Require $200 Canadian

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Corporate News, Nintendo, Wii,

EB Games CanadaWhile US gamers can start lining up to pre-order their Wii consoles tomorrow with only $50 in their pocket, it looks like Canadian gamers are going to have to lay out a little more. Not only do Canadian gamers have to wait until Monday for their pre-orders, but those pre-orders will require a $200 Canadian, unless they have $50 worth of stuff to trade. While this offer isn’t nearly as screwed up as the limited pre-order program in Hawaii, it does highlight the massive profit-taking enterprise that is the GameStop / EB Games software trade-in program. GameStop’s trade-in values tend to be extremely low and on top of that they seem think nothing of selling counterfeit merchandise. While GameStop seemed to be making strides at improving their pre-order program in the US, it looks like they took a few steps back in Canada.

Read More | GamesStop

Gallery: EB Games Canada: Wii Pre-Orders Require $200 Canadian


Gamestop Testing New Pre-Order Program

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: PlayStation 3, Rumors, Wii,

Wii PS3 Pre-order

Word of a new test program for pre-orders at GameStop/EBGames surfaced this weekend. GoNintendo found a thread on the NeoGAF forums pointing to pre-orders for the Wii and Playstation 3 opening for one week, starting September 18. The key part of the pre-order program was the catch: gamers would only be able to place a pre-order by trading in $50 in games or accessories. However, this “improved” pre-order program would not actually fix any of the problems faced by gamers last year. The pre-order would not guarantee a system at launch (or even during the holidays) and effect doesn’t really even hold your place in line.

Since the initial report, it has been confirmed by GoNintendo that the trade-in program is going to be a test program, only for GameStop stores in Hawaii and Guam. GameStop is apparently trying to determine how effective a program would be.

It is pretty easy to understand why GameStop would want to make gamers trade in software and accessories to hold their place in line for a Wii or a Playstation 3; trade-in sales made up by far the largest percentage of gross profit on last year’s annual report. GameStop gets the highest gross margin from used software sales; so much so, that it appears that trade-in software is more valuable to the company than cash. Trade-ins are traditionally the worst possible deal for the consumer, giving meager amounts of money for software that is then turned around and sold for large profits.

So, GameStop has huge incentive to push gamers towards trade-ins. But along with this horrendously punishing trade-in program, little is being done to fix their broken pre-order system. Like last year, the pre-order only gives the customer a place in line at the store they pre-ordered from. Gamers also witnessed in-store hard sell programs, where people that put money down on more of the profit-generating software and accessories got to jump in line. The new program seems to address this somewhat, but a place in line means nothing if the stores never get the product. When the Xbox 360 launched, gamers holding pre-order tickets would see GameStop and EBGames place huge, expensive bundle systems online, while stores were crying for product. GameStop has shown in the past that they care little for the people that have given them money in the promise of a game console at or near launch, and these new moves would seem to indicate that they have learned little from the past.

Read More | NeoGAF

Read More | GoNintendo

Gallery: Gamestop Testing New Pre-Order Program


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